Level 1

19 points

IOS26 “This iPhone encountered an issue while starting“ screen problem

I have an iPhone 14 Pro on iOS 26. While I was using it today, the phone suddenly shut down by itself, restarted, and then showed me this Recovery screen:

I pressed Continue, it says “No issues found” and restarts…

But after restarting, it just shows me the same Recovery screen again, stuck in a loop.

So basically my iPhone is stuck in this on-device Recovery mode.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any way to fix it without erasing data?

[Edited by Moderator]

iPhone 14 Pro

Posted on Sep 16, 2025 4:41 PM

Top-ranking reply

bulldog_mommas

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Oct 11, 2025 10:28 PM

I have a fix for this same thing happened to me on my Iphone 16 pro max, here are the steps I had to do:

Needed to use a laptop to connect my iphone to but i had the problem that bc my phone was stuck in recovery mode my computer wouldnt recognize it, the fix for that is plug your iphone into your computer and do the hard restart (up, down, hold right button) but instead of letting go when the apple logo comes up hold the right button until it changes into computer recovery mode (black screen with a computer and cable logo) which then lets your computer discover it
If update doesnt work do the restore (no problem if you know you have your phone backing up) but when that is done the important step I havent seen mentioned yet that made it work for me is to select the option to set it up as a new phone vs from a backup, this is the only way I could get mine out of the recovery loop (still use your apple id email for signing in)
Setting up as a new iphone isnt an all is lost thing, you do lose your wallpaper and any personalization settings like your home screen setup and any apps you had downloaded but you can easily see all previously installed apps thru the app store and re-install all (in my case skipping a bunch I no longer use)

figured I'd post a reply saying what worked for me in case anyone else has same problem :)

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32 replies

Oct 12, 2025 11:08 AM in response to Sheem9

Since this problem only appears to be affecting a relatively small minority, I believe that the problem must be caused by something in our backup data.

When I had this problem, I was able to update to iOS 26 when setting it up as a new iPad and it appeared to work fine but in my numerous attempts at restoring, it went into recovery mode every time.

Luckily at the time, the iOS 18 ipsw was still available so in the end, I decided to go back to that and the restore worked perfectly.

Providing people select 'Send data to Apple' on the ‘Diagnostic Data Collection' screen when they go through the recovery process, hopefully, Apple will be able to use this information in order find what is causing it to go into recovery mode.

I seem to remember the final screen saying 'No known errors were found' so we now need to wait until Apple find the 'unknown errors'.

Sep 22, 2025 2:56 PM in response to Sheem9

I have the same problem too I updated IOS26 and now I can’t connect nothing with my bluetooth

always when I tap to bluetooth on settings my screen froze

airdrop doesn’t work

location doesn’t work

maps doesn’t work without location on

a lot of issues with this new update

Sep 29, 2025 9:12 AM in response to Gazparsons

What is weird is that this happened to me around 2:30 am this morning. My phone was working and receiving alerts until 2:19 am then I woke up around 3 am ish and my phone was in recovery mode. I’ve tried everything I could at home but it doesn’t process the same as it does at the Apple Store. Will be going to the Apple Store after work today.

I don’t like what the iOS 26 is doing to our phones so many bugs and glitches that it causes our phones to freak out and go into recovery mode.

flomopo

Level 1

22 points

Oct 10, 2025 1:25 PM in response to TheTreeFrog

Happened to me as well with 17promax after migrating from 13promax. Went through an endless loop of recovery. Tried to recover and restore from computer as well as nearby device option. Just upgraded and bricked after 1 day. Escalated support is taking me to Apple Store as last resort for possible replacement. Wished there was an option to install the 18.7.1 since that’s working fine on my 13 pro max.

flomopo

Level 1

22 points

Oct 10, 2025 1:32 PM in response to LD150

Tried that suggestion by 6x6 and with Apple support and still loops back to recovery screen. And on a 17 pro max so should not be a hardware issue. Default OS was ios26 on the 17 pro max when I got it so no option to install 18.7.

LD150

Level 10

99,577 points

Oct 20, 2025 12:38 AM in response to chalalalalalala

chalalalalalala wrote:

any updates? i have the same problem:/

We do not know what problem your phone has that triggered the response, or your exact situation .

About Recovery Assistant for iPhone and iPad - Apple Support

gnaegi

Level 1

25 points

Oct 27, 2025 11:18 PM in response to Sheem9

I am surprised how everybody is so relaxed an calls this "annoying". This is a major catastrophe!

I use the phone all day at work for 2 factor authentication, and now the phone went dead just out of the blue and I am reading online that this bug exists since early betas of iso 26!! Is someone at Apple listening? This is not just an annoying bug, this is fundamental.

LD150

Level 10

99,577 points

Oct 28, 2025 1:31 AM in response to gnaegi

gnaegi wrote:

I am surprised how everybody is so relaxed an calls this "annoying". This is a major catastrophe!

I use the phone all day at work for 2 factor authentication, and now the phone went dead just out of the blue and I am reading online that this bug exists since early betas of iso 26!! Is someone at Apple listening? This is not just an annoying bug, this is fundamental.

Ir maybe it simply found a fault with your phone that you were not aware of.

I remember reading about during beta it but didn’t see any cases in the beta testing sites.